Who's Real!
by CimFan
Summary: After visiting her family in Boston, Annabeth returns to New York City and is dying to tell Percy what she had found out in Boston. Set after The Sword of Summer. One-Shot.


**Who's Real?!  
** **Written by: CimFan  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. Mr. Rick Riordan does.**

I was just about to leave my apartment to go to spend the weekend at Camp when Annabeth called.  
"Did you leave yet?" she said as soon as I picked up the phone.  
"Hello to you too," I greeted her. "And no, I'm still home."  
"Great. Could you pick me up from the train station? I wanted to take a cab to Camp but then I thought that maybe you were still home," she explained. Her voice sounded tensed. I wondered what that was about.  
"Sure. I'll be there in about half an hour," I said.  
"Thanks," she replied.  
"Are you okay?" I asked, getting into my loving-caring-boyfriend role. "You sound a little nervous."  
"I think so," she said. "I need to talk to you about something. Call me when you're here."  
And she hung up.

Driving to the train station alone (Paul _finally_ lets me burrow his car, as long as I don't wreck it), I had enough time to think about what Annabeth said. I knew she spent the week at her family's house in Boston – apparently she has an uncle and a cousin there, but I couldn't figure out why seeing them made her need to have a serious talk with me. Sure, I liked talking to her and I hoped she liked talking to me as much, but I still didn't get it. Did her family tell her that a daughter of Athena has no business with a son of Poseidon? And if she did want to break up with me, why did she ask me to pick her from the train station?  
I was so lost in thoughts I didn't realize I was parked in the parking lot, so when Annabeth knocked on the car's window I jumped in panic.  
"Hey, Seaweed Brain," she said and kissed me after I got out of the car. "Missed me?"  
"I'd tell you the truth, but you'd kick me," I joked.  
She stuck her tongue at me. "When did you become so funny?"

Five minutes later, her suit case was in the back seat and she herself was seated next to me in the passenger seat.  
I glanced at her as we were slowly making our way through the heavily packed New York City. She wore a blue scarf over her black coat, jeans and Timberland shoes. Her blond her was tucked in a messy brain (a hairstyle she was trying a lot lately) and her grey eyes were fierce. Overall, she looked beautiful. I was a lucky guy.  
"So," I said, breaking the silence. "What did you want to talk to me about?"  
She sighed. "It's kind of a long story."  
"We have plenty of time before we reach Camp," I said.  
She looked at me. "Since when do you say 'plenty'?"  
"Seriously, Annabeth," I said, keeping my eyes on the road. For some reason, I was scared of looking into those grey eyes. "You look like something has happened. What is it?"  
"I know. I'm sorry. You're right," she said. I wanted to make a joke about her admitting I was right, but she finally opened up so I bit it down. "You know I spent the week in Boston. . ."  
"Yeah, at your uncle's place," I recalled. I only found out about her family in Boston a few months ago.  
"Yes, my dad is from Boston. He left to Virginia after he had me." She said. "But his brother and sister stayed there. My uncle Randolph, my aunt Natalie and my cousin Magnus."  
"Isn't Magnus that weird dude from that movie you made me watch?" I asked.  
"It was a book first, Percy," she sounded annoyed. "And yes, but it's also my cousin's name."  
"I didn't even know you had a cousin," I said. Sure, we all had our godly related cousins. Mine included some of the gods, a few horses and monsters, and I was sure Annabeth's included some pretty big owls, but we barely talked about our mortal families at Camp.  
"I do. Or did. I didn't get that. . ." she muttered. "Anyway, when I was six or seven, my dad had a fight with his brother. We were visiting, I was playing with Magnus and the adults were talking, when suddenly my dad burst into the room and told me we were going home. That was the last time I saw my family."  
"Wow." I said. I didn't have any family besides mom, Paul and Tyson. My mother was an only child, and her parents died in a plane crash before she had any siblings. I couldn't imagine what having a family you don't speak to feels like. "So what made you and your dad visit again?"  
"My uncle called a few days ago," she told me. She was looking at the road, not at me, as she was speaking. I could tell that something was bothering her. "He said something had happened to Magnus and that my dad and I were needed. So my dad took the first flight he could get, I got on the first train I could get and we met in Boston. When we got there, we found out my aunt died two years ago –"  
"What?!" I called. "And you guys didn't know?"  
"No," she said, a tear making her way down her cheek. "I told you, my dad wasn't speaking with both his siblings. Anyway, Randolph told us Natalie died and that Magnus was leaving in the streets for the past two years."  
"Why didn't he do something about it?" Now I had no doubt as to why Fredrick Chase wasn't speaking to his brother. What kind of an uncle lets his nephew live in the streets?  
"I don't know," Annabeth said desperately. "Anyway, long story short, two days after we got there Magnus broke into my uncle's house, my uncle found him and kind of kidnapped him, and all of this ended with some kind of explosion of Magnus' death."  
"Oh my gods, Annabeth," I said. She lost her only cousin without being able to help him. No wonder why she was so devastated.  
"That's not it," she continued talking without paying any attention to me. "I got to the church before the funeral, and as I entered I found out that Magnus was standing over his coffin! After I almost killed him for making us think he was dead, he said something about finding out who his father is and a quest and gods, I should have known he was a demigod!"  
"What?" I yelled and almost crashed into the car in front of me. "You have a demigod cousin? Who's his father? Why didn't you bring him to Camp? Is he safe out there?"  
"That's the thing!" she cut my string of questions. "I tried explaining him about it all, but he just said that he will speak to me when he's done and that he didn't want me to get caught up in this danger. And then he ran off with some people I didn't know and I didn't get any messages from him until a yesterday, when he called me and said he wanted to talk to me."  
"What did he say?" I asked curiously. We were getting close to Camp, and even though what we were talking about kind of freaked me out, I enjoyed spending some time alone with Annabeth. As soon as we reach Camp we will have to be separated according to our cabins, and with all the stuff that we both needed to take care of as head counselors and tutors, I bet we wouldn't have as much time together as we hoped we would.  
Annabeth took a deep breath. "He said. . . He said the Norse gods are real. That he's the son of a Norse god."  
"What?" I yelled again. It was only recently that we found out about the Egyptian gods being real and walking this planet, and now the Norse ones? What's next – will the flying spaghetti monster join the party, too? I had a headache just thinking about it.  
"I know. That was my reaction," she laughed. "Magnus is the son of Frey, the god of summer and peace and tons of other stuff. And Magnus was sent on a quest to find his sword and stop the world from getting destroyed."  
"A typical quest, then," I said.  
Annabeth laughed again. I could tell, just from hearing her voice, that she felt better now that she got it out. "Yeah."  
"So what now?" I asked. "Should we tell Chiron? Call Carter and Sadie?"  
"I thought about speaking to Carter," she said, "but I wanted to hear what you thought first."  
I thought about it for a few seconds as I was parking the car next to Camp Half Blood Hill. Telling Chiron would probably be the best thing to do, but from Annabeth told me, it seems that those Norse gods have their own demigods that will take care of their business. And besides, Annabeth and I deserved some quiet after saving the world again.  
I got out of the car, walked over to Annabeth's side and opened her door for her.  
"Such a gentleman," she smiled. "So, what do you say?"  
"I think that we should let the Norse gods deal themselves, and that I really wanna go to the beach for an afternoon swim."  
"Is it a date?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.  
"You bet," I said and kissed her.  
Gods. I really did miss her.


End file.
